Our connection to this land and nature is one of our most vital relationships. To honor that, we must also honor the original peoples of this land. While we do this year-round, it’s especially top of mind now, during Native American Heritage Month. So, we wanted to introduce you to one of our Mission Fund Grant recipients that’s doing amazing work – Elderberry Wisdom Farm.
Elderberry Wisdom Farm is a nonprofit organization offering conservation career pathways for Native Americans and other people of color interested in restoring sacred landscapes and finding deeper layers of healing by working on the earth. At Elderberry, you can find the Traditional Ecological Knowledge Workforce Project, which provides experiential service-learning training, peer mentoring, and health and wellness resilience classes for cohorts of Native Americans. Elderberry also offers the Native American Habitat Restoration Internship which trains folks who are interested in conservation careers.
Soon, in partnership with the City of Salem Urban Forestry Department, Elderberry will start teaching in high schools during the school year and partnering with student apprentices from those schools during the summer to help build urban tree canopies.
In 2023, OGC gave Elderberry an unrestricted Mission Fund grant. Elderberry used it for salaries, farm supplies and conservation education materials.
In chatting with Rose High Bear (Deg Hit’an Dine, Inupiaq), Founding Director of Elderberry, on her 80th birthday, she shared that, “We’re moving into our fall and winter, and I just hope that everybody feels happiness inside of their spirit, that they feel good about their lives, and they don’t let the big or little things get them down. All we need to worry about is our footstep on the Earth. I think for anyone who wants to find that emotional and spiritual support, all they need to do is go take a walk on the wild side.”
OGC wishes you a happy harvest season – we hope that you’re all able to take a walk on the wild side.
OGC’s Mission Fund Grant Program helps build equity in our regional food system, address and mitigate the impacts of climate change and more. Elderberry Wisdom Farm is just one of the many organizations the Mission Fund supported in 2023. Find a list of all our recent grant recipients here.